Microsoft drops out of Hulu auction according to sources

Early this month we caught wind that the popular online video streaming site Hulu might be up for sale. According to sources when the story first broke Hulu had been contacting a bunch of different major players to solicit bids for a sale. Those players were said to be Amazon, AT&T, and Verizon, Liberty Media, Netflix, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and Samsung. At least one of those major players is now said to be dropping out of the bidding.

Bloomberg is reporting today that sources are telling it that Microsoft has dropped out of the bidding process to buy Hulu. Microsoft supposedly told Hulu that it would not continue into the second round of bidding. However, the chance of Microsoft coming back to the bidding later hasn't been ruled out. There has been no official comment from Microsoft or Hulu.

Other sources have said that Yahoo would pay up to $2 billion for Hulu. Sources are rampant on the Hulu sale and others are claiming that Hulu will offer its buyer five years of access to shows from the media companies that currently own the streaming firm. Two of those years would be exclusive access for Hulu only.